Cry Little Sister
by Catlethea
Summary: Bella's twin sister, Ari, has always been by her side; even when Bella decides to go to Forks, Ari is right there with her. But what if the alleged "twin connection" between them is stronger than they thought?
1. Chapter 1

"Come on, Bella, let's go!" my sister enthused, tugging on my hand. "It's just school. This will be fun, and I'll be with you if you need me. Lighten up, Bells!"  
"Ari, calm down. I just want to get this day over with, okay?" I said quietly, trying to get her to shut up as we walked into the office.  
She pouted. "Bella, you're just determined to have a bad day. School doesn't have to be a daily torture, you know. It can be fun!"  
"Only if it's you we're talking about." I muttered darkly, then followed Ari to the desk.  
Ari bounded over to the secretary, a kind-looking older woman named Ms. Cope, and gave her a winning smile. "Hi! My name's Ariana Swan. Can I have my schedule, please?"  
Ms. Cope immediately fell prey to Ari's charm, and smiled back in a faintly surprised manner, passing a sheet of paper across the counter. "Of course, dear. And here's one for you, Isabella."  
"It's Bella." I corrected gently, thanking her for the schedule. Ms. Cope gave us each a map and pointed out all our classes on it while Ari listened attentively and thanked her warmly as we left.  
"Suck-up." I coughed, and Ari feigned anger. "Gosh, Bella. Don't ever talk to me again, okay?"  
"Fine, I won't." I snorted, playing along with my over-dramatic twin sister.  
Ari and I were different in almost every way; where I was shy and clumsy, she was exuberant and a great dancer. Where I liked to be alone, she had a huge amount of great friends. And where I had never had a boyfriend in my life, she had gone through five boys since Renee had let us date. People found it hard to believe that the two of us were related, much less twin sisters. But the proof was there, in baby pictures that we looked identical in, and how our mother used to put nametags on us to tell us apart. Ari had always wanted to switch places and confuse everyone, but I could never pretend to be like her. She was too much.  
I was brought out of my thoughts by Ari's disappointed groan. "Oh, man! We've only got lunch together. This sucks!"  
"Well, you do take a lot of different classes from me, Ari. You're not even in math anymore, are you?" I pointed out.  
"Nope! I don't know how you can keep going with it, because I barely survived Geometry. I would die in Trig. Latin is way more fun than Spanish, I'm telling you, Bells."  
"I like my Spanish, thank you very much." I said stubbornly.  
Ari stuck her tongue out at me, then said, "Okay, be a stupid poophead. I'm still going to teach you Latin anyway. Oh, and you're going to meet some nice people this morning. Angela looks like a perfect friend for you."  
Did I mention that my sister can see the future? 


	2. Chapter 2

When lunch finally rolled around, I had a few friends, as Ari had promised. And Angela, a girl who would have the same Biology class as me, was shy and quiet like me, but nice.  
"Oh, my God. Look, Bella, your sister is talking to Jasper Hale!" Jessica from my Spanish and Trig classes stage-whispered. Most of the people around us heard and looked where she was pointing, and where half of the cafeteria was already staring.  
Ari was standing by a table that was occupied by only one other person, a blond boy that looked better suited to Hollywood than Forks, and was smiling amiably at him. Personally, I thought he looked a little tense, but after a moment, Ari sat down across from him, eliciting a shocked gasp from Jessica.  
She put a hand to her mouth and said, "Nobody sits with Jasper, or any of the Cullens. They always say no. Wow. Does your sister have magic powers or something?"  
"She has the magical gift of being stubborn, if that's what you mean." I lied to keep her psychic abilities a secret, sitting next to Jessica and all the while staring at my sister. Before two minutes had passed, she had Jasper listening to her, at least, if not talking with her as well. Leave it to Ari to bring a rise out of a completely apathetic person withing five minutes of meeting them.  
Three others, two men and a woman, sat a few seats away, giving Jasper strange looks as he conversed with Ari. He appeared to ignore them completely, even flashing my sister a smile, one so brilliant it was hard to look at. I examined the others at the table, and was so dazzled by the lithe, bronze-haired boy that I nearly dropped my lunch tray.  
After recovering from my embarrassment and the brief bout of clumsiness, I shakily mumbled to Jessica, "Who are those people?"  
"They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's foster kids. There's Jasper, of course, then Emmett, Rosalie, and Edward. They just moved here from Alaska about two years ago." she responded eagerly, clearly happy to share the gossip.  
I nodded attentively, and tried my hand at the subtlety my sister was so skilled at: "Which one's which?"  
Jessica tossed her hair over her shoulder and whispered, "Okay, obviously, the blond girl is Rosalie, right?" I nodded. "She's with Emmett, the one who looks like a bodybuilder."  
"So the redhead is. . . Edward?" I questioned, risking a glance at him, only to find he was staring directly at me. His dark eyes met mine, slapped me, and tied me to a figurative chair, from which I was unable to do anything but watch him. After a moment, he frowned and looked away; Jessica caught my arm. "Bella! Hey, are you listening?"  
"Sorry," I muttered, blushing profusely. "What were you saying?"  
She just looked between me and the Cullen table for a moment, then snorted, "Okay, stop right there, Bella. The Cullens don't date. Apparently, none of us are good enough for them. Seriously, don't waste your time."  
I just nodded to placate her, and I spent the rest of my lunch hour sneaking glances at Edward, who was godlike in his perfection. How Ari could have walked up and talked to someone that beautiful without freaking out, I would never know. But I do know that that was the day Ari and I met the Cullens, in a sense. And I have never forgotten it, nor will I ever let it slip my mind in the future. 


	3. Chapter 3

In the truck on the way to the grocery store, I asked Ari, "So. Who was that guy you sat with at lunch?"  
"Jasper." she replied, unusually quiet.  
I elbowed her. "Come on. I know you're hiding something. You're being quiet."  
Ari laughed. "Bella, why do you always assume that when I'm quiet I'm hiding something? I actually happen to be deep in concentration right now."  
"Oh, yeah? Who are you watching this time?" I said, accustomed to my sister's peeking into other people's futures.  
I parked the car and switched it off before she anwsered, "You. Charlie's going to love dinner tonight. And who is this tall, dark and handsome man I see?"  
As we walked through the parking lot, I shook my head and told her, "You're terrible. Honestly, who are you watching?"  
"Can't tell, it's all jumbled. Give me a minute, and I'll get back to you on that." she said shortly, holding onto my sleeve as we walked inside. She did that to make sure she wouldn't get left behind, and had done that since we were small. Ari was fifteen minutes older than me, but sometimes she seemed like the younger sibling, in need of a hand to hold onto. And I was always there, so she came to me when she needed someone, just like I did with her. At one point, when our mother had been grieving her own sister's death in a tragic car accident, we had been all the other had, and the memory of that time still ran deep within us, keeping us close.  
Halfway through our shopping, she blinked and snapped out of her search, frowning and gnawing her lip. "What's up?" I asked her.  
"I think I was watching us, but. . . it can't be right. That doesn't make sense." she said tentatively, unsure.  
I shrugged and smiled to show her it didn't matter. "Don't worry about it, Ari. Hey, should we get some steak, or should we get chicken fingers?"  
"Charlie loves steak, but chicken fingers rule. Everybody knows that, Bells." she joked, returning to normal. By the time I remembered what she had said in the supermarket, I was on the brink of sleep, and slipped into a dream of Edward Cullen before I could dwell on it. 


	4. Chapter 4

And so the weeks went by.  
Ari, being the wildly social person that she was, quickly rose in popularity, until it seemed she had everyone as a friend. Well, everyone except Jasper's family and a blond girl by the name of Lauren, but the overview was still the same; Ari was popular in a way she had never been in Phoenix, and it didn't affect her one bit.  
She still went with me almost everywhere, and she still sat with Jasper every day at lunch. The attention of our small school didn't go to her head, as her behavior stayed the same. And, of course, she still poked her nose into my future whenever the opportunity presented itself.  
As I slowly worked my way out to the car across the ice that covered our driveway, Ari laughed. "Bella, your face is so serious! You look like an old man."  
"Shut up, Ari, I'm trying to concentrate." I grumbled at her, focusing on my feet. I really didn't like snow, not at all, but ice was worse by far, and with Ari talking to me, I felt like I could take a tumble at any moment.  
She sighed, then informed patiently, "You are not going to fall, I promise. But watch out for the-" My feet almost skidded out from under me, and I grabbed the side mirror in desperation, only just catching myself.  
Ari winced, then finished, "The patch near the door."  
"You suck." I said, pulling myself inside.  
Ari entered the truck without difficulty, complaining, "Bella, I tried to tell you, okay? But I saw it like, two seconds before you slipped. And you caught yourself! So don't yell at me, I can't help it. You're going to have to watch out today. I don't think you'll slip. . ."  
She trailed off, deep in thought, probably combing my future for possible falls. I drove painfully slow on the black ice, afraid of carving a path of destruction right down the middle of the highway, but, miraculously, we made it to school without incident, and I climbed out and spotted snow chains on the tires. "Ari, look. Charlie put snow chains on for us."  
"That's nice." she said absently, frowning, clearly worried by something.  
"What-" A high, loud, screeching sound cut me off, and she shouted, "Bella!"  
Before I knew what was happening, a dark blue van was spinning right at me, so fast I didn't have time to blink before it came. Just before I expected the impact, something hard and cold hit me from a different direction, pinning me to the ground. Someone cursed, and I was aware of a person pulling me to safety, then the van stopped with the sound of popping glass. Silence followed, then screams, and I could hear people calling my name, the closest being my sister.  
Edward Cullen's voice breathed in my ear, "Bella? Are you all right?"  
"I'm fine." I managed to say, then Ari came around the truck to us and immediately smothered me in a back-breaking hug, barely noticing Edward in her haste, tears streaming down her face.  
"My God, Bella! I was so scared-I thought you were going to die! I couldn't. . . It happened too fast! Thank God you're okay!" she babbled hysterically, eyes casting around wildly. "My God, I was right there! And I didn't do anything!"  
"Ari, it's okay." I said, then became very aware of two things: Edward was also holding me, in an iron-tight grip, and my head hurt like crazy. "Ow."  
Ari let me go, worrying, "Do you need an ambulance? Where are you hurt?"  
"My head. It's okay, Ari, I just hit it." I said, and she nodded, visibly fighting to calm down. She said, "Okay. Okay. I'm going now. They have to know you guys are still alive, God."  
And then she disappeared. 


	5. Chapter 5

"Bella! My God, you look awful!" Ari said, entering the nurse's office.  
"Thanks, Ari." I muttered without much heat; I had just experienced a fit of dizziness from hell, no thanks to the fact Edward was nearby. That was quite liable to make any girl short of breath, and, boy, was it working on me.  
My twin dug around in her pocket and pulled out a bandana, then knelt in front of me and proceeded to wipe the cold sweat from my face. She shook her head and said, "I knew I'd be needing this thing. You're hopeless."  
I didn't respond, keeping my jaw clenched tight over a wave of nausea. Ari said to Edward, "Thank you for bringing her down. We haven't been introduced yet, Edward, but Jasper told me about you. I'm Bella's sister, Ari."  
"It's a pleasure to meet you." he said stiffly, surprised by her talkativeness.  
"Right back at you. And since you seem like a nice guy, I'll trust you with Bella, because I have to get back to class soon. Okay?" Ari continued cheerfully.  
My sister was officially nuts. It was a wonder Edward even paid her any mind, honestly. This was one of those moments where I kind of wanted to kill her but also kind of wanted to keep her alive to figure out what the hell was going on. I groaned, "Ari, what on earth are you babbling about? What are you doing here, anyway? You didn't skip class to check on me, did you?"  
"Of course not, silly. I found an excuse." She waved a note in my face. "I have to drop this off. You keep this-" she commanded, putting the bandana in my hand, "-and have a good rest of the day. I won't be back at dinner, I'm hanging out with some friends this afternoon, but I'll be home at nine thirteen. I'll bring your truck home."  
"Huh? Wait, Ari, what do you mean?" I asked, trying to stand up.  
She pushed me back in the chair and winked mysteriously, then skipped over to Ms. Cope and handed her the note. After that, she danced out of the office, leaving Edward and I to stare after her, dumbstruck.  
Okay, my brain operates pretty well on a regular day. It only gets downsized slightly when I don't feel good. But I can honestly say, in all seriousness, that after that particular conversation with my sister, with the way I was feeling at that moment, my brain had shrunk to about single-molecule size.  
After a moment, Edward frowned, shaking his head. "Your sister is. . ."  
"Weird?" I supplied.  
"A bit. No offense." he amended.  
"None taken. She's like that a lot. Wonder what she was talking about." I wondered aloud, then fell silent, pondering possible explanations for that very odd chunk of dialogue between my sister and myself.  
After a moment, Edward said hesitantly, "Is she a psychic or something? She seemed to know what you were going to do. . . or something."  
"Yeah, she is. She's been able to sort of. . . see the future since we were kids. But don't spread it around or anything, okay?" I whispered to him, worried. Not that he was a gossip-I was pretty much one hundred percent on that-but you never do know about people, especially people as interesting as Edward Cullen. Plus, if he couldn't accept my sister, then I wasn't sure I even wanted to spend time with him. Ari was too important to me for that.  
"I won't." he promised earnestly. And I fell just a little bit harder for him. 


End file.
